IT sector set to witness next wave of hiring

The main demand for techies would be driven by non-IT companies that are building teams for digital transformation.

NEW DELHI: There is some good news for India’s IT professionals. After months-long lull, hiring is set to pick up starting this month right up to March 2019, according to the Experis IT Employment Outlook Survey. The survey, which covered around 550 IT employers across India, indicates higher hiring intentions for the next two quarters compared with the previous two.

“IT hiring in India has been sluggish in the last two quarters. However, jobs are being created and IT hiring will pick up slowly in the coming months and see an upside by March 2019. Non-IT companies will be the big players in IT hiring as more and more companies establish their captive centres in India,” said Manmeet Singh, president of Experis, a ManpowerGroup India company.

The survey reports a positive net employment outlook of 53% for the period of October 2018 to March 2019.

The main demand for techies would be driven by non-IT companies that are building teams for digital transformation.

Non-IT companies across sectors together sum up a hiring outlook of 45%. The big players, especially the software and quality assurance testing companies, will continue to be more bullish on their employment prospects, estimates the survey.

New technology trends such as artificial intelligence, blockchain and cybersecurity are sweeping the market off the conventional skills. “AI seems to be becoming more or less a mainstay in almost all forms of technology and is going to pop up in all the new platforms, devices or apps more and more through 2018,” says the survey report.

After a slowdown in the last few months due to the proposed visa restrictions in the US, the biggest market for IT companies, corporate India’s hiring intention is gearing up.

Automation still rules the IT job market which is why most Indian employers are keen on hiring candidates with a higher learnability quotient, especially in the 0-5 years’ experience slab, the report says.

“Companies are looking for experienced professionals who are focused on and adapting advanced technologies such as the Internet of things, artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality faster than their conventional counterparts,” the report states.

“Web Technologies” practice area leads the demand chart with a net employment outlook of 32%. Most IT companies are likely to secure at least 5% of their jobs for freshers who have some training in these technologies, according to the findings.

Software companies with over 250 employees intend to hire more employees than hardware companies or startups. This will be ruled mainly by on-demand hiring. However, hiring of IT experts is likely to be higher in the non-IT domains as a direct and obvious result of automation.

Among non-IT sectors, companies in utilities, finance, manufacturing and retail will see strong hiring activities. With confident hiring sentiments for the upcoming two quarters, Indian IT companies are shifting towards a flexible workforce strategy, commonly known as flexi-staffing.